The Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) has challenged the Ministry of Health (MOH) to produce evidence to the effect that private insurers declined insuring the ministry's assets when they were approached to do same.
Mr Ivan Abubakar Avereyireh, in an interview with The Finder, refuted claims by the Health Ministry that private insurers had complained of high risk in insuring assets of the ministry, including the Central Medical Store, which was razed down by fire last week.
The store, which is based in Tema and is Ghana's most important drug supply centre, was involved in an inferno which completely wiped out medical supplies to the tune of about GH�237 million.
According to the ministry, only SIC had shown interest in providing insurance cover for the ministry's facilities across the country, but discussions with SIC were not conclusive enough to pave way for assets like CMS to be insured.
But in a rebuttal, the GIA President, who is also the Managing Director of Ghana Life Insurance Company, said no communication had been received from any quarters regarding the subject matter, and challenged the ministry to produce evidence of refusal by private insurance companies to provide cover for the store and other assets.
�No private insurance company refused to take that cover, and I�m daring the ministry to provide evidence,� he stated.
Describing the fire incident as an unfortunate occurrence, Mr Avereyireh noted that �it�s something that the managers of the place should have anticipated. However, we have the capacity locally and even internationally; we obviously can take the risk, but if it�s over and above what we can bear, we share it with our colleague direct insurers, and if it�s still too much, we go international and reinsure.�
According to him, there are large pharmaceutical companies in the country whose assets have been insured, more so insurance companies pay claims far in excess of the said GH�273 million lost to the state as a result of the fire.
The storage facility also served as a depot for the World Health Organisation's supplies.
Anti-retroviral medicines for HIV/AIDS patients, as well as drugs for malaria, and virtually all medicines, drugs and medical logistics used in Ghana�s hospitals were kept at the facility.
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